Planning with purpose

We must shift from putting nature around the edges, to building nature into everything we do says Julia Thrift, Director, Healthier Placemaking, TCPA (Town & Country Planning Association)

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit a range of green infrastructure projects in Cornwall that had recently received funding. Among these innovative projects were two primary schools that had been given a small amount of money to green their playgrounds. What they had achieved was really inspiring.

One had made great progress in greening their playground – adding a green wall, planters a pond and other features in what was otherwise a very hard tarmacked space. The kids loved it and the teachers said that the greening had helped improve the behaviour of the kids in the playground. The other school however had gone even further - they'd use their funding not only to green their playground but to transform the way they teach and to build nature into everything they did. This picture is of a polytunnel is one of their classrooms. [see right]

Nature was embedded into all of their lessons. Outside each of the classrooms there were boot racks with muddy boots for the kids. They were out and about in nature. They were building dens in the playground. This was a school where instead of having a cake sale to raise money, they sold the vegetables that the kids had been growing in the school grounds

For me, this illustrates the big transformation that is needed - from putting nature around the edges of things to really building nature into everything we do. Our current planning policies in England are - from an environmental perspective - gradually moving in the right direction. Initiatives such as biodiversity net gain will certainly make a difference. But, our planning policy still adds nature in around the edges. It still puts buildings and roads and structures first and then fits nature in around what's left over. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill includes significant reforms to the planning system. But, while there are things to welcome in the Bill, it doesn't represent the radical transformation of planning policy that the country so urgently needs.

Planning policy should start with a very clear statement saying that the purpose of planning is to support the health of the planet and the health of the people who live on it. At the moment, planning is sometimes described as ‘a process without a purpose’. We at the TCPA think planning should have a very clear purpose about enhancing the well-being of the planet and the well-being of people. We continue to campaign for a national planning policy that puts the health of the planet and health of people right at the heart of everything it aims to achieve. We hope that you'll support us to do this.